Click on the title to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums".
Book Review
The Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac, Viking, New York, 1958
Let me set the scenario. I first read Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums” in 1970 after racing though in one sitting his classic “beat” anthem, “On The Road”. I have read that novel many times since then, including a recent reading last fall to mark the 40th anniversary of his death. That physical and spiritual road "wanderlust" story affected me and my generation in more ways that it is necessary to mention here. As the headline notes, “Dharma Bums” has been gathering dust on the shelf lo these many years. Why the different response?
The difference is this. “Road” , its madcap wanderings, its setting its sights toward the expansive American West, any distance west as far as that goes,, its characters in search of some elusive meaning to life. Or maybe no meaning and the best bet is to hang out existentially hit nerve that many, including me, could relate to. In “Dharma” Jack and his madcap friends of this period (late 1950s) are already in the West and as a quick look at the map will show, you have to stop. Stop, at least physically if you want to stay in the continental United States. And that is where Jack, his spiritual search for his version of the meaning of existence, and I part company. Not because his search was worthless, but because that was not the type search that I needed to go on, then or now. Still, on those pages where he lets go and comes close to his vision of truth, he makes me wish that I could have gone with him, part of the way at least. I’ll put the difference in shorthand though. I relate to Jack's cruising off of Dean Moriarty’s hyper-energetic quest better than off of Japhy Ryder’s search for Zen balance.
Book Review
The Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac, Viking, New York, 1958
Let me set the scenario. I first read Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums” in 1970 after racing though in one sitting his classic “beat” anthem, “On The Road”. I have read that novel many times since then, including a recent reading last fall to mark the 40th anniversary of his death. That physical and spiritual road "wanderlust" story affected me and my generation in more ways that it is necessary to mention here. As the headline notes, “Dharma Bums” has been gathering dust on the shelf lo these many years. Why the different response?
The difference is this. “Road” , its madcap wanderings, its setting its sights toward the expansive American West, any distance west as far as that goes,, its characters in search of some elusive meaning to life. Or maybe no meaning and the best bet is to hang out existentially hit nerve that many, including me, could relate to. In “Dharma” Jack and his madcap friends of this period (late 1950s) are already in the West and as a quick look at the map will show, you have to stop. Stop, at least physically if you want to stay in the continental United States. And that is where Jack, his spiritual search for his version of the meaning of existence, and I part company. Not because his search was worthless, but because that was not the type search that I needed to go on, then or now. Still, on those pages where he lets go and comes close to his vision of truth, he makes me wish that I could have gone with him, part of the way at least. I’ll put the difference in shorthand though. I relate to Jack's cruising off of Dean Moriarty’s hyper-energetic quest better than off of Japhy Ryder’s search for Zen balance.
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